Internal-combustion engine.



. A. J. WEST.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR27,190&

1,101,893, Patented June 30,191L

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INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.27, 1906. 1 11 893 Patented June 30,1914.

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My 913/0 By WY A. J. WEST. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

' APPLICATION FILED APR.27, 1906. 1,101,893. Patented June 30,1914,

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WITNESSES:

BY 18 ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATEENT @FFTQ.

ARTHUR J". WEST, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, SBY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE COLONIAL TRUST COMPANY, TRUSTEE, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYL- VANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

ioness.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April a7, 1906. Serial No. 313,991.

new and useful Invention in Internal-Combustion Engines, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and more particularly to governing means for such engines.

The power delivered by an internal combustion engine is dependent onthe intensity of the explosions occurring in the engine cylinders and since the intensity of an ex-l plosion is dependent upon the amountand quality of the explosive mixture admitted to the cylinders, governin is usually accomplished. by automatica ly varying the amount of combustible mixture or the pro portional amounts of combustible gas or. vapor and air admitted to the cylinder. In

engines in which governing is accomplished by varying the proportion of combustibleand air admitted to the cylinder and which operate under constant compression, it IS ditficult to obtain a wide range of variations in the power delivered, since "a charge leanj in the combustible ingredients will not fire except when highl' compressed, and since acharge rich in by rocarbon vapors or gases.

will fire spontaneously if subjected to moderately high compression.

means inconnection with an internalcombustion engine utilizing constant compression wherebv the engine 18 rendered efiective and efiicient in operation for a wide range of loads.

An important feature of this invention is to provideimeans whereby air may be ini tially admitted into the combustion chamber,

of the motor and then a mixture of air and fied condition; that is to say, the mixture of air and fuel is preferably confined between two stratas of air. A further object is to combustible mixture admitted to the cylinder and the proportions of combustible and casing, and an air inlet port 27, which communicates with an annular passage 28,

air comprising the mixture.

produce means inc'onnection with an internal combustion en-- gine for proportioning both the amount of.

controlled mixing valve in which automatic means are utilized for proportioning, in accordance with the load demand, the mix ture admitted to the cylinders of an internal combustion engine.

These and other objects I attain in anapparatus embodying the features herein described and illustrated. I

Patented June so, rare;

In the drawings accompanying this application and forming a part thereof, Figure 1* is a partialsection of the walls of a gas engine cylinder in connection with a vertical section of a valve embodying my invention; in Figs. 2, 3, 4: and 5, a diagrammatic representation of the admission ports forming a part of this invention is shown and the relative positions of the ports are illustrated; Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating different positions of the engine crank; and Figs. 7 8, 9 and 10 are diagrams to be utilized in connection with Figs. 2, 3 and 4 and 5 in illustrating the operation of the valve in connection with the difi'erent positions of the engine crank and piston.

An admission port'12 is formed in the walls 13 of a cylinder of an internal combustion engine and is provided with a reciproeating puppet valve 14:, which is adapted to control the flow of fluid therethrough. The valve 14 is preferably of the mushroom type and is provided with a casing 15, mounted on the walls 13 of the cylinder. A valve i stem 17, rigidl mounted on the valve 14, An object of this invention 1S to produce i extends throu the casing 15 and is provided with suitable guide-ways 20, formed integrally with an end wall 16 of the casing. A bonnet 18 is-screwed or otherwise secured to the stem 17 and, a spring 21, located between it and a suitable pad 19 formed on the casing, is arranged to hold the valve 14 against its seat and close the ort 12.

A cam-actuated lever 22, fu crumed at 23 on a bracket formed integrally with the end wall 16 of the casing, is pivotally connected to a collar 24, rigidly mounted on the stem 17, and is adapted to reciprocate the stem 17 at regular intervals during an o crating cycle of the engine and open and 'fiose the valve 14.

The valve casing 15 is provided with a and formed within the casing. The passages 26 and 28 surround and are partially formed by a cylindrical wall 29, which is secured by screws or otherwise within the casing 15 and is provided with two series of ports 31 and 32. The ports 31 are arranged in an annular row and communicate with the chamber 26 and the ports 32 are arranged, for convenience, in two annular rows and communicate with the passage 28.

A piston valve 33, rotatably mounted on and surrounding the valve stem 17 operates within the cylindrical casing 15 and is provided with a series of ports 34 and a series of ports "35 which are adapted to respectively register with the ports 31 and 32 of the wall 29 when the valve 14 is moved to open the port 12. The piston valve 33 is provided with an arm 36, which is adapted to be connected to a speed-responsive governor with which the engine is provided and which is arranged to revolve the valve 33 to certain definite positions about the valve stem 17 to correspond to different speeds of the engine, thereby varying, in accordance with the load on the engine, the relative positions of the ports 31 and 34 and the ports 32 and 35.

The port 12 of the gas engine cylinder communicates with the ports 25 and 27 of the casing 15 through the ports 31 and 32 respectively and the ports 34 and 35 ofthe piston valve 33 are so formed and located that they, in conjunction with the ports 31 and 32, vary the proportional amounts of air and gas admitted to the cylinder in such a manner that a definite and constant amount of fluid is admitted during each suction stroke of the engine. This is accomplished by throttling down the supply of air to the cylinder as the supply of gas is increased and vice versa.

The ports 34 and 35 of the piston valve 33 are so formed and located, relative to the ports 31 and 32 of the Wall 29, that for light loads on the engine, the supply of gas component of the charge is out 0H during the first and last part of the suction stroke and air only is admitted. As the load on the en gine increases, the gas admission period increases and the air supply correspondinglyv decreases until at some redetermined load on the engine gas is acmitted throughout the entire suction stroke.

In Figs. 2, 3 and 4 the operation of the piston valve 33 is diagrammatically illustrated, the ports 34: and 35 of the piston till valve being shown in full lines and the ports 31 and 32 of the casing 29 in dotted lines. v

Fig. 6 illustrates diagrammatically different positions of the engine cranlopin which' correspond to different positions of the valve shown in Figs. 2, 3 and d.

The operation of the engine is as follows:

, While operating under light loads the valve.

14: begins to open when the crank-pin occupies a position corresponding to 38 and the piston valve 33 is moved by the governor to such a position that the ports of the pifs ton valve and the ports of the wall 29 cccopy the relative positions illustrated in Fig. 2. The gas and air orts are so proportioned and arranged that as the crank travels in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 6) air only is admittedto the cylinder of the engine. At a crank-pin position corresponding to 39, the gas port 3%, asillustrated in Fig. 3, begins to uncover the port 31 and admit gas along with the air to the cylinder. When the piston is at mid stroke and the crank-pin occupies a position corresponding to 41, the gas and air ports occupy the relative positions illustrated-in Fig. 4 and the valve 14 is fully opened. As the crank proceeds in the direction of the arrow, the valve 14 begins to close and at'a crank-pin position corresponding to 42 the piston valve 33, in raising, again occupies the position illustrated in Fig.3 and the gas the governor about the stem 17 to correspondfto an increasing load on the engine,-

greater areas of as ports 31 are uncovered bythe ports 34 urin the reciprocation of the valve 14, the air ports 32 are correspondingly throttled and the gas admission period is advanced until at some predetermined load on the engine, the gas and air ports open simultaneously.

The ports of the piston valve are also of such shape that the charge entering the engine cylinders during full or overloads .on the engine increases in amount or combustible ingredients supplied until the crank-pin occupies a position corresponding to 41 of Diagram 6, when the charge of maximum density, relative to the gas component, and then decreases in combustible mixture as the crank proceeds to the end of the suction stroke. The ports 34 of the piston valve 33, which operate to open the gas port 31 in the casing 29, as shown in F igs.- 2, 3, 4

and 5, are more or less EL shaped, one arm Mill? stroke. The ports 35, which operate to open the air ports 32 are also L shaped and are arranged to decrease the supply or air ad.

mitted to the cylinder as the supply of is increased.

Fig. illustrates the relative positions of the ports in the wall 29 and the ports in the piston valve 33 for a maximum load, the

crank-pin being in mid-position, corresponding to the position ll. As illustrated, the gas and air supply is simultaneously admitted to the cylinder at full load but the which correspond to the successive positions of the crank, as illustrated in the diagram of 6, and the piston valve 33, as illustrate Figs. 2, 3 and 4. In governing the speed "of the engine, in accordance with'the gload demand, it is necessary to utilize means for roportioning the quantity of the combustible charge admitted to the engine cylinder'at light loads, since there is a limit below which the quality cannot be efiiciently varied. As before described, the mixing valve is adapted to proportion the amounts of air and gas admitted to the cylinder for.

normal loads and at a certain and predetermined light load operates to admit a quan tity of air to the engine cylinders before and afterthe mixed charge of gas and air is admitted. In Fig. 7 the piston of the cylinder -is shown in a position which corresponds to the position 39 of the crank-pin at which the piston valve begins to open the gas ports in the casing 29 and the clearance space in the cylinder and the portion of the cylinder un-. covered by the piston is filled with air. Fig. 8 illustrates the position the piston occupies when the crank'occupies a osition corresponding to 42, the gas ports aving o ened an amount corresponding to the loa admitted a combustible mixture of gas and air and closed. The cylinder is shown partiall filled with air which has moved along wit the piston and partially filled with combustible -mixture which has displaced the air. Fig. 9 shows the piston at the end of the suction stroke and at the beginning of the compression stroke. The iston valve 33 has admitted air to the cylinder which has,

displaced the combustible mixture and occupies the clearance space in the endof the cylinder.

Fig. 10 illustrates the position of the piston iu'the cylinder at the end of the compression stroke and also illustrates a stratified condition of the combustible mixture and air which exists in the cylinder, the combustible mixture being compressed between two layers of air. As before described, the valve is .casing, and means for rotatin arranged to supply the richest mixture at mid-stroke and an igniter 46 is located in the cylinder to communicate with the richest portion of the compressed charge. Under; such conditions, an explosion is always-in- After combustion is a I patent'statutes, l have described the princi- 1 ple of operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider'to represent the best embodiment thereof; but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means; and

What I claim is:

1. In an explosion engine, a mixing valve for constant compression engines comprising a casing having air and gas ports, a piston valve within the casing and having ports adapted to register with those in the casing, means for rotating said valve to vary the proportion of air and gas passing through said ports, and means for reciprocating said valve whereby the air ports are first opened, then the gas ports opened, while the air ports remain open, and whereby the gas ports are closed prior to closing the air ports.

I 2. In an explosion engine, a mixing valve for constant compression engines comprisin a casing having air and-gas ports, a va ve within the casing having air and gas ports and ada ted to both reciprocate and rotate, means or rotating said valve to vary the proportions of air and through said orts, and means for reciprocating said va ve to open the gas ports between the opening and closing position of the air ports.

3. In an explosion engine, a mixing valve for constant compression en ines comprisin a casing havm air an gas ports, a va ve within the casing having air and gas ports adapted to register with those in the I said valve whereby the air port area will ejdecreased an amount equal to the increased port. area of the gas, or vice versa.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 25th day of April,

ARTHUR J. WEST. Witnesses:

GnAnLns W. McGnnn, E. W. MoCALms'rnn.

gas passing It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,101,893, granted June 30, 1911, upon the application of Arthur J. West, of Pitteburgh, Pennsylvania, for an improvement in Internal-Combustion Engines, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 112, after the Word charge insert the WOlTl is; and that the saidLetters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the recordot the case in the Patent Ofioe.

Signed and sealed this 11th day Of August, A. D1, 1914;.

J. "1. NEWTON,

Acting Commissionw of Patents.

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